savoring the beauty in the everyday

Summer 2014, unblogged

I have blogged about a lot of the big events this summer: our glorious trip to PEI, two days with my parents in Rockport, the four-year anniversary of our move to Boston. But as often happens, some of the smaller summer joys have gone unblogged.

In mid-June, we revived a fun summer ritual and had small group at our beach. We had to wait for ages for our fried clams, but I hung out with Sarah, age 2, and hunted for shells and rocks.

Once we finally got our fried clams and calamari, they were delicious. (Abi agrees.)

The hubs and his a cappella group had their big summer show in early June, and he sang a solo on “Pompeii” by Bastille.

They are an ambitious group: their repertoire includes Mumford & Sons, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin and a highly entertaining mashup of Tom Petty and the Notorious B.I.G. (known as “Mo’ Free Mo’ Fallin”’).

That same week, Shanna and Grace came to visit from Atlanta, and we drank tea and stayed up late and talked for hours and laughed and laughed. I wish these ladies lived closer to us. I love them.

After we returned from Rockport, we took my parents to Top of the Hub for drinks and appetizers. J and I had never been there either.

The food is delicious, but the views are sublime.

Later in July, we had a small group picnic, complete with bocce ball.

The kids really got into it.

August was mostly about savoring summer as I went about my daily life: long walks, trips to the farmers’ market, Friday lunches in Harvard Square with the hubs. (Pictured below: Shake Shack.)

I have worn sandals nearly every day, eaten handfuls of fresh berries, and stopped by Crema for more than a few glasses of strawberry limeade.

The basil on my balcony is thriving, and I’m using it on everything: pizza, pasta, bruschetta, ratatouille, scrambled eggs with veggies. The latter have been my dinner on many nights when J works late.

This summer took a while to get started, and then it has whizzed by. We’ve been caught up in work, family, church, the usual round of life – and sometimes I feel like summer has passed by without our noticing. But we’ve taken day trips and grabbed dinner with friends, eaten dinner on the patio when we could and lit candles inside when we couldn’t.

In short: we’ve done our best to savor this season, and we are looking forward to a glorious fall.